About Jacqueline

Born and raised on the West Coast in small rural towns my soul imprinted on Northern California where I spent my formative years. I crave a comfortable existence grounded in nature, fueled by good food and deep human connection. I take my relationship with my kids seriously and I am happy for the opportunity to explore, play, and work side by side with them. I met my husband when I was fifteen, shortly after a cross country move to the suburbs of DC, and we've now shared over half our lives together.

Inspired by a city we love, Andy and I are raising our two boys and a girl in the heart of Virginia, and pursuing together a life of inquiry, creativity, and adventure. We are project-based homeschoolers and nature is our outdoor classroom. I consider our homeschool an extension of my mothering and the journey so far has been an education for me as much as for the boys. It’s a lesson in our relationships, how to pursue meaningful work, how to take life as it comes, how to live as we go while giving ourselves space to make mistakes and to keep trying as we answer our own questions following the lead of our hearts. When the days grow long, when I need to refuel, I seek out nature to reconnect with my kids and with myself. Our current family project is the construction of our forever home, a modern nature-inspired dwelling nestled in the hillside by the James River.

From pregnancy and birthing choices to parenting decisions and schooling options, work-life integration, and care of self, the value placed today on modern mothers can be intense. 

I became pregnant with my first son after a two year healing from Graves' Disease and, having learned to navigate the health care system in my early twenties, I was empowered to be a better advocate for myself and for my baby. Roscoe was born at home in 2009 and I quickly understood the ways in which our culture not only demands from us as mothers, but also demands from our children. It misses the mark for modern families, failing to support the full integration of the many facets of our lives. My relationship with my new son motivated me to demand more from my life; more from my work, more from my intimate connections, and more for myself. In 2011 I gave birth to Merritt, born seven weeks early, and before I knew it we had two babies under two and life felt saturated for a long time. Worried for another premature birth it took years before I finally worked up courage to try for a third baby and in March 2016 after a very difficult pregnancy I met my daughter 14 weeks early. Winslet's 3-month NICU stay and the following postpartum year were traumatic and grueling for me especially, but it impacted the entire family. Eighteen months later I am still struggling to recreate the intentional home life that we once enjoyed, and to right the ways that our lives were upended by fear and uncertainty, and the hardship of meeting everyone's needs in such a crisis.

My BoldHeart grows with each adventure life throws our way. 

Motherhood has been a transformative experience, challenging my identity at every turn while inspiring a more intent listening to my intuitive bold heart. Motherhood has become the backdrop for reconnecting with my deepest desires as a woman, mother, and human being.

I remain deeply humbled by my mothering journey and I’m currently relearning to put a priority on taking care of myself in the context of these very demanding and fulfilling relationships. As I continue to take stock of what is working and what I can improve I’m embracing this life we’re cultivating together and using my writing to develop and extend my voice to connect my experience to yours and yours to mine.

I’m so glad you’re here!

I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or share your thoughts with me at boldheartmama@gmail.com.

Oh, and a few more things about Jacqueline:

Jacqueline is trained in the health sciences of biomedical engineering and public health epidemiology. In 2012 she left a Washington, DC. based career in public health policy to launch MamaBorn, a birth services concept serving the greater Richmond community.

In her role as childbirth educator and professional birth doula, she facilitated birth culture transformation and offered support services to women and their partners through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. She empowered her client families with informed choice and confidence to trust the natural process of birth.

Currently, Jacqueline is a freelance and creative nonfiction writer on niche topics related to pregnancy, birth, postpartum, work/life integration, homeschool, and self care.